Making the Fur Fight Fly

Talk story about Dan Mathews, an animal-rights activist with People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA). On Jan. 25, PETA raided the 39th St. offices of Calvin Klein, Inc., spray-painting "Kills Animals" under Klein's name and chanting "Fur shame!" Klein soon after announced that he would no longer include fur in his collections. Mathews tells how he orchestrates demonstrations as media events. Writer accompanied him to the fur department at Bergdorf Goodman. He pointed out to a saleswoman that chinchillas are killed by genital electrocution (she called security). On the way out, he stuck an "I'm an asshole. I wear fur" sticker on the back of a shopper's coat. Kim Basinger, who hosted a small party for PETA at the St. Regis, will be featured in a nude poster for the organization, captioned "Beauty Is Not About Wearing Someone Else's Coat."